We wake up to bright sunshine. We are in a beautiful part of the world for sure. Here are some photos of the villa and the surrounding hills. We have a Lamborghini (tractor)!!
Exploring our village of Castellina is on the agenda for today. There is much more to this little village than we saw yesterday as we stopped to eat as we were hungry. Today we can wander leisurely. We see a cute little “Luigi” Fiat parked on the street. Lindsey is standing next to it for scale. It is a tiny tiny car. Next we see this Harley Davidson, but not your run of the mill Harley Davidson. It is causing a bit of a stir in town. 😊
This is a very old village. It has Etruscan roots. The Etruscan civilisation dates back to the 900’s BC. Just a couple of years ago. Here are some images of the very vibrant little village. Lots more than I had expected.
Our hostess has a list of recommended restaurants in Castellina. We pick one with a lovely view on their rear patio as it is Lindsey’s last day. We need to wait for a large family party to finish before we can be seated. We debate just sitting inside, but the gentleman at the front convinces us that it will be worth the wait. He was right!! Stu joins us for our lunch. Lindsey and I share an antipasto and a primi of Pici pasta with beef, Leslie and Greg share an antipasto of stuffed zucchini flowers, Leslie has a risotto and Greg toasted bread with lots of great stuff on top. Pesto, cheese are a couple of them. They have a very extensive wine list. They are a Restaurant, a Winery, a Shop and a high end Hotel. It is called “Squarcilupi”. Apparently a very old family in this area. It was a fabulous meal.
Wandering up to the Castle we see an unusual sculpture. This is what I learned about it. The Siena based sculptor and artist Alberto Inglesi built this sculpture for the small village of Castellina (2850 inhabitants) at the border between provinces of Florence and Siena. Background of the sculpture is the historic rivalty betweeen cities of Florence and Siena. But his sculpture “Allegoria del Chianti” on Piazza del Comune shows as well, that this two famous and beautiful ladies have created in the area in between also the wonderful Chianti wine, illustrated by a grapevine connecting them. The place is located in front of the Museo Archeologico del Chianti Senese and the local castle.
We are all very full after our wonderful lunch. We have a later snack, copying the lunch we had in Siena. We found some soft cheese in the shop, topped oven toasted bread with garlic and olive oil, with a bit of pesto, the soft cheese and sundried tomatoes and artichoke hearts. Oh my god, it was sooooo delicious. Greg headed for an early night while Leslie, Lindsey and I played our own version of Farkle.
Another wonderful day!!